BEAVERTON – Fueled by a smothering defense, Southridge claimed a berth in the 6A girls basketball tournament Friday night.
The seventh-seeded Skyhawks held visiting Grants Pass to two first-half field goals in building a 20-point lead and coasted to a 50-34 win in the round of 16. Southridge (19-7) advances to the eight-team state tournament at the Chiles Center, where it will meet No. 2 Willamette in a quarterfinal Wednesday night.
“We have nothing to lose,” Skyhawks junior point guard Sara Mangan said. “We're going to go in there and give it everything we have. Whatever the outcome is, if we play our hardest, and we know we did all we could, we're OK with that.”
Freshman guard Camryn Herzberg scored 20 points to lead the way against Grants Pass. Mangan and senior guard Faye Scott added eight and seven points, respectively.
Mangan and junior Alex Lytchanyi are the only two starters back from last year's state tournament team, which lost to eventual champion South Medford 56-24 in the quarterfinals.
Southridge retooled and won the Metro League title. Of the Skyhawks' seven losses, their only in-state defeat came against Metro rival Beaverton, a setback they avenged. They carry an 11-game winning streak into the tournament.
“I feel good,” coach Michael Bergmann said. “We made a step up in offense from last year. I think we can play with people offensively, it's just whether we can guard the best teams.”
Much will rest on the shoulders of Mangan, the team's leading scorer (17 points per game) and floor general.
“We lost six seniors, so it's definitely a new experience for a lot of people,” Mangan said. “If we all just stick together through it, we'll be good.”
Southridge clamped down on No. 10 seed Grants Pass (17-8), the third-place team from the Southwest Conference. The Skyhawks hounded the Lady Cavers on the perimeter, forcing them into rushed shots that missed the mark.
“I thought our defense was really good,” Mangan said. “We were repping it a lot in practice.”
Grants Pass, coming off a four-hour bus ride, didn't seem to have its legs.
“It helps to be home,” Bergmann said.
Southridge went on a 16-0 run – getting three-pointers from freshman Bailey Griffin and Lytchanyi and two backdoor cuts for baskets by Herzberg – to open a 23-4 lead in the second quarter. The Skyhawks led 28-8 at half and pushed the edge as high as 39-13 on a three-pointer by Herzberg with 1:40 left in the third quarter.
Southridge was able to pull away despite Mangan not scoring in the first half. She finally got on the board with two three-pointers early in the third quarter.
“She's such a good player because she doesn't have to score to still be doing other things,” Bergmann said. “She finds other people, sets great screens. She's kind of got a little Curry in her where she's almost more dangerous without the ball.”
Mangan has benefited from the addition of Herzberg, who is second on the team in scoring at 16 points per game.
“She does the little things,” Mangan said. “She makes the hard catches, finishes the hard layups. It's so fun to have her out there.”
Senior guard Kenzie Kleiner and freshman forward Evan Lindahl led Grants Pass with nine and eight points, respectively. Millie Lathen, a 6-foot freshman guard who leads the the team in scoring at 14 points per game, scored all seven of her points in the second half.
jerryu@osaa.org
Subscribe
